December 22, 2010

I Give Up!

After reading about 150 pages of the book The Last Ember, by Daniel Levin I gave up on it, something I rarely do. The Last Ember, an archeological mystery/thriller is not a bad book, it is just a very dense and complicated read. The premise is fascinating. Jonathan Marcus is a student of the classics and archeology, turned attorney and works for a New York law firm. Because of his expertise in antiquities, Jonathan is sent to Rome to examine a piece of an ancient stone map, discovers a secret and becomes involved in a deadly conspiracy. Some say it is a Jewish version of The DaVinci Code. This book (at least the first 150 pages) is full of religious facts and history. I have not totally given up on The Last Ember, in fact I may give it another try one of these days…. just not today. I am sure glad that I have a Kindle. I think I am going to download The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks, a book I have been looking forward to reading. I hope I do better with this book!

Do you ever give up on a book?

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Yes, I give up on a book – too many others waiting to be read. A friend has a rule she follows: if you read as many pages as you are old and are still not fully engaged, then you can give up. So, if you’re 50 and you’ve read 50 pages, you can close the book without guilt.

I rarely do, however I just put down The Dante Club. Great book, however it was written in a heavy Boston street accent from the 1800’s It annoyed me so much that I stopped reading. Took me 15 minutes per page.

Well ladies, I have several rules that may apply. You can drop or “close” a book if the number of pages you have read without interest equals or exceeds:

1. half your husbands weight (I sometimes retain water so this number is variable and open to…interpretation)
2. the combined score of the last football game you saw
3. the number of times your son or daughter uses “lol” in a text conversation
4. the number of times your husband changes the TV channel in one evening
5. the number of times your husband leaves the toilet seat up in one week.

Edward, you are too funny. Unfortunately I cannot use your system. I tallied up the score there and I had 39 points for the Jets vs. Philadelphia game alone and about 50 for #4 and too many to mention for #1 and #5. With a score that high I could read the entire book and then backtrack a few pages.

Yes! I just gave up on 2 books in a row. The first one had a story line that was just too predictable. The second one was too depressing (an Oprah book, of course!) I finally found one to stick with–Songs Without Words by Ann Packer.